John Cowan, who is running for the 11th District seat being vacated by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), previously denounced Donald Trump in interviews and in social media posts that have since been deleted.
Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show Cowan gave $2,500 on March 4, 2021, to Future First Leadership PAC, the political committee launched by then-Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who has become one of Trump’s fiercest Republican critics. Five days after Cowan’s donation, CNN reported, “Rep. Adam Kinzinger wants to save the Republican Party from Donald Trump. His first challenge: Convincing the party it needs to be saved.”
In April 2021, Cowan told USA Today, “Until we had President Trump, I never really saw the conservative movement making an idol out of the party leader where it was a fealty more than a loyalty.”
He added, “Trump was a dynamic leader, and after eight years of (Barack) Obama the party was looking for someone to bring us out of the wilderness. And instead of him being Moses, some people turned him into God, and I think we lost our way a little.”
Archived copies of deleted posts on X, show Cowan made a series of remarks criticizing Trump and his role in the Republican Party.
On January 17, 2021, Cowan shared an article titled, “The Trump Impeachment Is Deeply Flawed, but He Deserves Conviction,” and wrote, “Very well constructed argument and worth a read.”
Less than a month later, on February 12, 2021, Cowan wrote, “The GOP needs to take the energy for change Trump cultivated and channel it back to constitutional principles grounded in facts, truth, and with a ‘more perfect Union’ ethos. The party is not Trump’s; it is the people’s.”
On January 12, 2021, Cowan said the events of January 6, 2021, “should be forever ignominiously known as ‘Trump’s Rebellion’ so future generations will know the who and what occurred immediately.”
On January 15, 2022, Cowan responded to a video of Trump discussing the 2020 election by writing, “He should’ve taken Hannity’s advice and not mention the election again … sounds like drunk uncle here.”
Two weeks later, on January 30, 2022, Cowan stated, “Agree Erick. The GOP cannot consider itself the home of the conservative movement with Trump in any form of leadership role.”
On November 25, 2022, Cowan wrote, “Trump taking a page from MT(G)’s playbook? Both can’t go down in political flames fast enough.”
Then, on December 15, 2022, after Trump announced a digital trading card collection, Cowan expressed, “Not a serious Presidential candidate.”
Cowan is a neurosurgeon from north Georgia who previously ran in the Republican primary for Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, losing to former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG) in 2020.
